


Night Visit

by Jena Bartley (jenab)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-03-19
Updated: 2007-03-19
Packaged: 2017-11-02 13:58:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/369751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenab/pseuds/Jena%20Bartley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Padme receives a late night visitor in the twin's nursery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Night Visit

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Laura McEwan for the beta.

The sound of a baby crying dragged Padme from her sleep. Glancing at the clock on the bedside table, she groaned but climbed out of her warm space. Bail stirred behind her, waking either from the crying baby or by Padme’s movements.

“Shh. Go back to sleep, Bail.” Padme whispered, drawing the covers over her husband’s shoulders. “I’ll go to them this time. Next time it will be you.”

She slipped on her robe and slippers, hurrying down the corridor to the nursery. The room was illuminated by the moon and a night light, casting soft shadows over the two cribs. Padme froze in the doorway, seeing another shadow moving towards the babies.

“Hello, Padme.”

The voice was soft, familiar and Padme felt fear shoot through her even as she carefully stepped further into the nursery. There was a silent alarm just down the corridor along with a hidden compartment and gun, but to get them Padme would have to leave her children. And what use would a gun or a few guards be against her visitor?

“What do you want, Anakin?”

A light flipped on, showing Anakin Skywalker standing beside her babies. Luke was still crying, his voice thin and high.

“I heard you recently gave birth to twins and came by to pass on my congratulations.” Anakin looked down at Luke, studying him before moving to Leia’s crib. “Tell me something, Padme, does Bail know he is not the father of your babies?” There was such coldness in his voice it sent a shiver down Padme’s spine.

Padme’s breath hitched. “How...”

“How did I know Bail couldn’t be the father?” Anakin looked up at her, a cold smile on his lips, his eyes burning with some emotion Padme couldn’t name. “You forget who I am and my position, Padme.”

“I’ve forgotten nothing about you, Anakin and who your new master is.”

Anger flared in Anakin’s eyes, making Padme bite her lips against the rest of what she wanted to say. Luke’s cries had changed, becoming more desperate when no one came to him. Padme moved towards his crib only to have Anakin turn back to Luke.

He reached into the crib and lifted Luke out, and it was all Padme could to do to stand there and watch him. She wanted to rush over and yank her son out of Anakin’s arms but knew Anakin could stop her with just a wave of his hand. Fear gripped her as she remembered that this man standing before her had killed children before, on Tatoonie and in the Jedi Temple. What was to stop him from killing her babies in front of her now?

Luke quieted down a little as Anakin held him, staring up solemnly. Anakin gazed back as Padme stood frozen.

Finally Anakin looked up at her, his eyes still angry but his arms seemed to cradle Luke gently. “Did he know?”

Padme didn’t have to ask who Anakin was talking about. “No. Obi-Wan didn’t know.” She didn’t tell Anakin how Obi-Wan had come to her and Bail with horror and unbearable grief in his eyes over Anakin’s betrayal and killing of the Jedi. Or how they had comforted him, giving him a place to grieve even as they grieved for the loss of democracy and the Republic.

Anakin looked away from her as though he could read her thoughts. He glanced at Luke lying peacefully in his arms, sucking on his fingers. Padme carefully took one step closer to them but stopped when Anakin shot her a dark look.

He turned away and walked towards the rocking chair sitting in a corner where she would sit and hold her children. Anakin sat down, taking care not to jostle Luke, and Padme wondered for the first time in a very long time if maybe there was still something good inside him. That the man she’d once loved, with his unending capacity for love and loyalty, could be reached once again.

“I loved you once, with everything in me.” Anakin didn’t look up as he spoke. “I thought there was nothing that could equal that love. I wanted to marry you, but you said no, and I thought my heart would break.”

Anakin looked up as he drew Luke closer to him. There was such grief in his eyes that it made Padme’s heart clench. She knew how deeply Anakin loved her and she had loved him just as fiercely, but she couldn’t marry him. It wasn’t until later, with Bail, that she understood how destructive her love for Anakin could have been for both of them. Their love was too fiery, with too much passion that blinded them to consequences of their actions and what it meant for Anakin to be a Jedi and be attached to her.

“I thought I loved you once. I didn’t realize till later that it wasn’t really love I felt for you. I wanted to own you, to make you mine so you would always love me and never leave me, and that isn’t love. I didn’t know that love could be so much different than that.”

“Anakin?” Padme inched forward a little more. There was such pain and sorrow in his voice.

“I loved him and I killed him. And I didn’t even know such love existed like that until he was dead at my feet.”

Obi-Wan. Anakin was talking about Obi-Wan. The shock of that realization froze Padme where she stood.

Silence fell in the room, filled only with the soft cooing of Luke. After a long moment, Anakin sighed and stood up. He gently laid Luke back in his crib, drawing the blanket over him. As he brushed by her, Padme found her voice.

“It’s not too late, Anakin. You can still come back. Help us bring down the Emperor.”

Anakin paused, not looking at her. “It’s already too late, Padme. I made my choice willingly, and I’m where I want to be.”

He left.


End file.
